The Data Recovery Zone

Buy A RedHawk, Support A Scholar!

2007-02-14T14:14:00.000-08:00

Did you know that we contribute a portion of the profit of every Plug-n-Play Hawk PC computer sold to the Waltham Centennial Scholarship Foundation. So the next time you are looking for a new computer , think Waltham Hawks and buy a Hawk PC !

Systems start at $499

Get Your PC In Shape For The New School Year

2006-09-27T11:51:00.000-07:00

After a summer away from the books it is time to get back to work! It is important to make sure that your computer can keep up with the rigorous demands of todays students. Most of all they need more speed! Bring your computer in to our shop for a free upgrade analysis.

Why Nortons and McAfee Do Not Work

2006-07-22T11:29:00.000-07:00

There is an interesting article on ZDNet explaining quite well why it is that the major antivirus programs fail in their attempts, valiant though they may be, to protect your computer from malware. It is something I have known for a long time, and it is why I steer my customers clear of them whenever possible.

I cringe when someone tells me that " so and so at (insert big computer retailer name here" told me to purchase this to solve my problems ...and sure enough they pull a big ol' Nortons or McAfee box out of their computer bag.

Adding to the consumer's confusion and lack of protection is the fact that the ISP companies are now bundling with their own software a variation of these ineffective, yet so popular antivirus titles( McAfee seems to be the most prevalent in this instance) and marketing it as an effective malware and virus protection package to their subscribers. I have serviced several machines recently that were running the AOL antispyware that you see so much about in the television ads, yet were infected beyond belief.

Now, don't get me wrong folks. I certainly applaud the efforts by Comcast, Earthlink, AOL, RCN and the like to protect their subscribers from the nefarious and pervasive bugs that are swarming the internet these days. However, in a lot of cases it seems that the public is being sold a bag of you know what by the ISP marketing machine.

Basically if you want good protection, this is an area where a "well known name" is actually working against you. You need to focus on antivirus protection that is "below the radar " so to speak.

Feel free to call us and discuss a more effective antivirus solution for your home or business.

Burn Baby Burn....Laptop Inferno?

2006-07-17T18:52:00.000-07:00

Not if you have one of our awesome Antec Laptop Coolers!

This week we are knocking 20 bucks of the regular price . Regularly $49.99 ...this week they are just $29.99. Keep that lap cool and prolong the life of your laptop at the same time. How can you beat that?

Celebrate Our Independents!

2006-07-01T07:39:00.000-07:00

There is a certain duality in that title I must admit. Of course we all celebrate the birth of our great nation. But secondly it is important to consider an independant computer shop (such as ours ;) ) the next time you need parts, service or even basic technology advice. Only in the smaller independents are you truly valued as a customer. Ask yourself this : why would you expect to get great technology service from an Office Supply Chain, or a National Appliance store? You may pay more up front at the smaller shops, but statistics show that over the long run you end up paying LESS, and having a much more enjoyable relationship with the technology in your life. Now that is something to celebrate !

A Clean PC Is A Cool PC

To get your computer ready for heat of summer
we are offering a free computer interior cleaning and upgrade evaluation for the month of July.
We will get rid of all those heat-trapping dust-bunnies and make sure the fans are working properly to keep your investment cool as we enter the dog-days.

Peoples Republic of Motherboards

2006-06-26T18:01:00.000-07:00

There is a very interesting and enlightening article on Hardcoreware.net about the motherboard manufacturing process at an ECS plant in China. To the uninitiated , motherboards are basically the large pcb board in your case that makes your computer a computer. All your drives, memory and processor are attached to the motherboard. Nice pictures, but needless to say after reading the article you definitely realize you are not in Kansas anymore.

Which is a nice segue to this weeks special...drum roll please...10% off ECS Motherboards!!! (didn't see that one coming, now did we?)

Give Dad More Storage This Father's Day!

2006-06-17T11:05:00.000-07:00

What better way to celebrate this Father's Day than upgrading that rapidly shrinking hard drive . Those aging 40 or 80 GB drives sure do fill up fast in today's digital home! We are happy to offer Seagate 200 GB hard drives for the low price of $99 this week. Seagate quality is backed by a 5 year warranty, the longest in the industry. We are also knocking off 20% from our Disk Clone service to make it more affordable to migrate that old drive to the new without losing a single byte!

Rain Rain Rain Rain

2006-06-08T08:11:00.000-07:00

I think this week we will offer a special on Umbrellas....

Seriously though, what is going on with the weather pattern around here?

I think a great rainy day activity is setting up that new PC you just picked up at Plug-n-Play ;)

We have brand new Dell systems starting at $349 . Get that great Dell value with our local support! How can you go wrong?

-Roger

What Would You Name Your Business

2006-05-12T07:04:00.000-07:00

Been giving a lot of thought lately to how one comes up with a name for a business they intend to start.For example in my own business I want to move more into web and graphic design . As such I have been toying with several name ideas for a spinoff company. Of course there are many simple choices like WebDesign R Us, ProDesign, etc ,
...but nothing with real cache though.

How do the names that become the huge household words that truly define a brand come in to being? Hours and hours in the boardroom brainstorming by a committee of 25 expereinced marketing professionals?
Or do they just throw a bunch of letters up in the air and look for a divine branding solution?

Then Again It Depends on Which Site You Read

2006-05-04T16:36:00.000-07:00

More on the Vista Delay Front.

Microsoft seems to be sticking with the original dates. For now.

Bringing Clarity to Your Digital Waiting Room

2006-05-04T06:44:00.000-07:00

According to an article in VarBusiness Magazine it is looking like the much anticipated January release of Microsoft's "Next Big Thing" aka Vista, (or Longhorn) won't be available to the general public until second or even third quarter of 2007!

Something tells me in reality it probably will be closer to the 4th quarter.

Maybe its the fact that I have been beta testing Longhorn Media Center as part of my membership in the Microsoft Beta program, and from my results so far, this puppy is not ready for prime time.

More Bugs than a Roach Motel !

It is also giving a new meaning to the term " Resource Intensive".
I have the latest build 5365 of Vista Media Center Ultimate installed on a 3.4 GHz P4 , running a GeForce 6600 GT with a gig of DDR2 and it constantly prompts me to turn off the " desktop composition" feature..which when done basically turns the GUI into XP with a Longhorn desktop theme. I won't even get into the lockups, system freezes etc.

While the newest User interface additions to Media Center are somewhat impressive, when compared to the stability I have experienced on my 2005 MCE in my living room the past 18 months , there is a lot of room for improvement.

The Long and Winding Road

I definitely see where they are going with the next incarnation of Windows. I do not think , based on the betas, that they are there yet. Not by a long shot. I say delay it as long as it takes to make it right . Approach it differently than the XP release process. Do that Service Pack 1 development now , before the OS is released, or at least approach the betas with that mindset. Do not , as is unfortunately M$'s historical modus operandi, rush a product out to market when it is " good enough" , then deal with the recurrent fallout by hastily throwing together patches and service packs that ineffectively plug the leaks in the dam. Otherwise Apple will be as poised as ever to pounce with Leopard. On second thought, that would not necessarily be a bad thing.

Vista Beta Testing

2006-05-01T07:48:00.000-07:00

Have been beta testing Vista Media Center(really started just over the weekend).
Interesting experience to say the least. More to follow on this soon.

Windows 9x Bids Farewell In July

2006-04-14T07:32:00.000-07:00

I know some people still use this family of products...really can't understand why...but in July there will no longer be support out of Redmond for them. No More Updates. No More Security Patches. No More Trick Playing Cards!

Geek Squad Sued For Using Pirated Software

2006-04-14T06:35:00.000-07:00

Winternals Software of Texas has sued Best Buy and Geek Squad for their unauthorized use of their software in the diagnosis of their customers computers.
Winternals Sues

Gee, you don't think the fact that the majority of Geek Agents are teens and 20 somethings whose primary computer exposure was the world of Kazza, Napster 1.0 , Limewire peer to peer file sharing ( as well as the world of warez ) had anything to do with it?

w32.SteveJobs Worm?

2006-04-05T10:13:00.000-07:00

According to eWeek magazine the malware scourge in Windows is becoming so bad that they are actually recommending companies with a large installed base of XP machines create automated in-house nuke and pave protocols , because there is no known way currently to remove all the bugs, particularly when they involve the use of rootkits. Read the gory details here:

http://www.baselinemag.com/article2/0,1540,1946013,00.asp

Why Do They Still Buy Nortons

2006-04-05T10:08:00.000-07:00

From the (l)users department:

So I have for the umpteenth time been dealing with a failed Nortons Antivirus 2005 installation.

Why is this company ( Symantec) still able to sell this defective product to so many unknowing and unwise users?

Answer: There is the great American marketing machine in all its glory.

Latest Results screen from Nortons:
Infected items :22
Items Deleted:0
Items Cleaned 0

What exactly are people paying for when they purchase a subscription for Nortons?

Vista Delayed...Again...Yawn

2006-03-22T11:37:00.000-08:00

I think Steve Jobs has to be chuckling as he reads this bit of news on his MacBook.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-03-21-vista-delay_x.htm

Is God A Leprechaun?

2006-03-17T09:48:00.000-08:00

"Daddy I know what God looks like",my 5 year explained to me with the utmost seriousness last night as I was tucking him in.
" What " I asked.
" He is a man, with white hair and a white beard and ...a green shirt"

Erin Go Braugh!

World Baseball Collapse Is More Like It

2006-03-17T08:24:00.000-08:00

Not that I have been following it all that much,(seems to me it takes more than one year for something to be called a "Classic"- just ask Coca Cola) but similar to their Olympic basketball compadres it seems the USA once again has fallen short in its worldwide quest for athletic supremecy.
...strains of USA uber alles perhaps?

http://tinyurl.com/gzvf8

FUGU

2006-03-17T08:18:00.000-08:00

If you havent checked it out , strongly recommend you do so:http://rsug.itd.umich.edu/software/fugu/

President O'Reilly?

2006-03-15T13:15:00.000-08:00

Recent reports indicating that Captain NoSpin is considering throwing his hat into the ring. Good Lord. They could have the whole Fox News team sign on as his cabinet if he were able to pull it off. Come to think of it, they are already leading President Teflon as it is.

Todays Trivia

2006-03-15T06:06:00.000-08:00

A free 5.25 floppy to whoever gets this one:
What does RJ stand for , as in RJ-45?

Blogger Widget

2006-03-07T08:24:00.000-08:00

Just discovered the Google Blogger widget for Dashboard and am using it to post .
Pretty cool.
http://www.google.com/macwidgets/